Tom
by Midnight Star and DragonFire
Summary: Tom Marvolo Riddle's life before he came Lord Voldemort...
1. Default Chapter Title

Well, the truth is I've always felt a little sorry for Tom Riddle...and that's why I wrote this...if you think it's interesting and want a sequel, write that in the reveiws or I'll just leave it at this.   
  
"Why didn't you tell me before? How could you?" Thomas Riddle shouted. His wife, Salaya Marvolo Riddle sobbed in the corner.   
"I-...I didn't know how you'd react! There's nothing wrong with being Magic!" She expostulated, between sobs. "There's nothing, nothing, nothing wrong!"   
"No! Magic people are different! They're not like us- me. You're a- a witch- an aberration...a freak of nature! You...you're...different." Tom's face was aghast.   
"Please, Tom, why throw away happiness just for such a tiny, little problem? I'm not going back to doing magic..it's a sacrifice I made for you. Don't you understand what a huge sarcifice I made? I, who value being a pure-blood above all else, I, have married not just a Muggle-born, but a Muggle!" She wiped the tears of her face.   
"No! Your child- will be magic! I know it. Stay away! I'm leaving!" He flings open the door and leaves into the dark night.   
"Please, think of the child, Tom! " She waits a moment, listening to the sounds of the angry storm outside. She gets up, closes the door and sits down. "I'll never leave you, Tom...I'll never leave you." She says, patting her large stomach. "Mummy will always be here. It's not Daddy's fault...Mummy should have told him....she should have explained before...she should have explained before."   
****   
"Come on, Salaya! Push! I can see a head!" The head gynaecologist says. Salaya screamed and sweat rolled down her temples.   
"Nurse! Forceps! This one's big!" He stops and looks at Salaya. "Oh God, Salaya, Salaya listen! Don't quit on me!"   
"Doctor, her pulse rate's dropping too quick. We could lose her...It shouldn't be dropping. There's nothing else wrong." The Nurse says.   
"No, dammit! Salaya, keep awake!" The doctor gives a mighty heave and the baby is out.   
Salaya gasps and then smiles. "Tom...call him Tom Marvolo Riddle." She gasps. "My Tom...I've left a letter...when he's eleven...sorry" She starts to mumble incoherently. Her voice fades into a racking cough and her eyes roll up in her sockets.   
It starts to cry, angered at being driven into this hostile, pitiless world.   
"Salaya, you have a boy, a beautiful baby boy!" The doctor says, desperate. "Look, look at Tom!"   
"Doctor...pulse rate...zero. She's gone." The nurse says, softly. The doctor jumps up and starts pacing.   
"Doctor...she's clinically dead." Another nurse says, softly.   
"Oh, God! Who's the next of kin?" The doctor asks, defeated.   
"She didn't have any..."   
"But then who...what shall we do with the baby? Tom?" He asks.   
"Adoption...it's the only way."   
****  
"Hey, Riddle, come over here!" A large boy with sandy brown hair calls. "Is it true this is your third Home?" Trembling, I nod.   
"Can't you speak, midget?" A blond boy asks. "And what kind of a screwed up name is that? Marvolo Riddle? Where are you from, the Dark Ages?" The others laughed.   
"My- my mother named me..." I say, gulping.   
"Oh yeah? Then why're you here, Riddle?"   
"She died..." I say, my voice full with emotion.   
"Are you gonna cry, Riddle? Are ya? Cry baby!" The boy with sandy hair taunts. "Now listen here, I'm Ricky, that's Joe." He says, indicating the blond boy. "And that's Eddie. And anytime any one of us wants something, you get it, all right? Or else we'll break your head in! Simple enough, ditz?"   
"Hey! Give the kid a break! He's five years old. C'mon, Tom." A fourteen year old girl says, standing in front of me. "Tom, I'm Kayla. So, where are you from?"   
"I- I dunno...I never knew my mama...she left me a letter...but I can only read it once I turn eleven..." I say, in a childish sort of tone. "I don't like them."   
"Look, Tom, I'm not always gonna be around...just keep your head low and do what they say. They're dangerous...even to me."   
I look up...I can feel my lip tremble.. "I want my mama...I miss her!" Kayla smiles at me tearfully.   
"It's okay Tom...we all do. We all do." She says, hugging me and patting my head softly...like a mother. "We all do..."   
****   
"Hey Riddle! Come here a minute..." Joe called. Eddie, Ricky and he were advancing towards him with cricket bats in their hands.   
I took one look at them and sprung lightly out the ground floor window onto a bed of petunias. Today was my tenth birthday. I didn't look quite right for ten. Still quite short with the untamable mop of black hair on my head.   
Kayla was the only one who had given me a card. It was crude and handmade but I kept it safely under my pillow. It was one of the most beautiful things I owned.   
Kayla was almost eighteen...the age where you leave the adoption centre. I shuddered every time I thought of that day. It fell much too soon. Yet, now and then I felt isolated. Her world of teenagers and laughter had to stop when she saw me.   
I could feel that she was ashamed to say hello to me in school. Ashamed because I was only ten and not 'cool' for her to know. I avoided meeting her when she was with her group. Yet when she was alone with me she was so normal...so caring. The Kayla I knew.   
I think I was in love with her. Yes, most definately. She was the only living creature alive who showed something other than indifference towards me. She was beautiful too. Her raven coloured hair was always done up in tiny braids. Her dark skin glowed and her eyes sparkled with life.   
Yes...if it was one quality I remember about Kayla it was the life that always exuded from every portion of her being. Even when she was scolding you or angry with you her mouth seemed to twitch at not being able to smile. Kayla was never without that glimmer of a smile on her face.   
"You can run, Riddle! You can escape with those fast little legs of yours, but we'll get you in the end. That's a promise!" The echo of Eddie's voice reaches you at your hiding place behind some dustbins. You shake off Eddies threats and go find Kayla.   
****   
They had finally caught me. I was cornered. Up against an empty bookshelf in the old library.   
Eddie and Ricky waved their cricket bats menacingly. "So...you're always hiding underneath Kayla's little skirt, well, surprise! Kayla isn't here to bail you out you little weasel." Joe laughed.   
I closed my eyes and wished...prayed that something would happen. I heard a humunguous crash and flicked my eyes open. A bookshelf collapsed on tip of Joe and Ricky. Eddie's trying to push it up.   
I decide it's better to run for it before Eddie tries to vent his rage on you. I slinked quietly out of the library and sighed with relief. Lately, strange things had been happening to me...   
On our last school trip to the Zoo I talked to a King Cobra. It told me how it yearned to be back in the forests. Suddenly, a few bars of the cage disappeared and you remember the snake saying thankyou and good luck.   
Tomorrow is my eleventh birthday. I don't care. I won't get a single card this year...Kayla left, a couple of days back. It's been so empty since then. So cold and dismal.   
As I place my head on the lumpy pillow, my back protests the hard, inflexible matress. I sit up again and go get a drink of water. I can't sleep and I feel restless. I pace the floor of the boys dormitory.   
The doorbell rings. It rings again. The Supervisor, Mr. Arthur, answers it in his dressing-gown. You see a flash of blue.   
"Police! What are they doing here?" You mutter. Mr. Arthur's face is ashen. He puts a hand to his forehead. "What? What's wrong?" I ask.   
He looks at me and sighs. "Kayla...she was killed...a drive-by shooting." My heart stops beating. A chill spreads from there, to my mind and to my limbs.   
"You Damned Muggles!" I scream, loudly. I wonder dimly, why I'm screaming words I just don't know. It just seemed appropriate and instincive.   
"You Damned Muggles!" I scream, right in Mr. Arthur's face. "One day...the whole WORLD will pay!" The words form in my mouth and flow out.   
The clock strikes 12 midnight. A silent owl arrives. ~*~*~*~*  
~*~*~*~*~ 


	2. Default Chapter Title

This is the second part of Tom Marvolo Riddle's story. You'll meet a lot of ancestors of present day characters in the story. It is revealed why he hates the Potters so much.   
  
  
  
"Marvolo Riddle, Tom!" A tall, stern teacher man calls. My legs feel like jelly. I am so...so afraid that this is all a beautiful dream. But dreams are, as we all know, so out of reach once they're gone.   
I think I stood up and walked towards the little stool. All I remember is a sea of faces, looking at me. I sat down and a rough fabric-hat was pulled over my head.   
_"Tom Marvolo Riddle...I can see it all in your head!"_ I gasp. The hat is- talking to me._ "Yes, greatness and power...I cannot reveal it to you..."_   
"What? Tell me!" I whispered, very softly.   
_"Patience! Yes, the house that you are in, is most certainly SLYTHERIN!"_   
It screeches the last word at the hall.   
The Slytherin table clapped loudly. It's symbol was the serpent, silhouetted against green and silver. A flicker of a smile caught my face. Looking at all the people I felt that I really belonged.   
I sat next to a girl with long black hair and a nervous look and a boy with the coldest, greyest eyes I had ever seen. Obviously she was new. She gave me a quick smile and outstretched her hand.   
"Drusyll Verloen." She said.   
"And I am Marcus Malfoy." The grey eyed boy said, with more than a touch of hauteur.   
"Tom. Tom Marvolo Riddle." Marcus Malfoy raised his eyebrow and goggled at him.   
"Not Salaya's son? Oh, dear, I can see you are. Those green eyes and black hair. Salaya's son for sure." He said, eyeing him.   
"You mean the one who became a Muggle?" Drusyll whispered. "By Magic, I wouldn't have thought it!"   
"So, Riddle, where is your mother?" Marcus asked.   
"Dead. She died giving birth to me." I said. "Did you know her- my mother?" I asked, eager to know.   
"I don't talk of deserters." Marcus said and turned his back on me. For the first time I felt ashamed of being who I was.   
I felt ashamed of having a mother who was a traitor and a Muggle father. A father who had never cared. My mothers letter had explained it all. I turned to Drusyll. She was looking at me with an expression between distaste and sympathy.   
I looked back to the sorting.   
"Potter, Gregory."   
A boy with untidy, sticking up hair and a smiling face walked up. He put on the hat.   
"GRYFFINDOR!" It shouted. The boy smiled and went to the Gryffindor table. Most seemed to know him and they gave him a warm welcome. I looked at Marcus and felt a twinge of jealousy towards Gregory Potter.   
"Clearwater, Rieven!"   
A girl with sweeping, shiny black hair was being walking toward the stool. The hat was barely on her head. Her eyes opened wide with surprise. The hat was speaking to her...I could tell.   
"RAVENCLAW!" It screamed. At that moment I wished violently that I was in Ravenclaw.   
"Tom, you idiot! Tom, shut up, you idiot! You don't even know her!" I screamed at myself inside my mind. "Besides, we're all in one school, right?"   
How wrong I turned out to be.   
So much rivalry existed between the houses...especially Slytherin and Gryffindor. Most people seemed to hate the Slytherins. I was unhappy, the Slytherins looked down on my impure blood and the other houses hated my house.   
I started spending a lot of time working and studying. A lot of time in the library. I also liked going there because of Rieven Clearwater. She spent a lot of time there, in that library. I found out most extraordinary things...I found out, through some of mother's old papers and some books that Marvolo, my grandfather, could be traced back to Salazar Slytherin himself.   
That meant that my mother's full name would have been Salaya Marvolo Slytherin. It meant that through my veins coursed the blood of Salazar Slytherin himself. I read up on Salazar's beliefs, on his life...anything I could find.   
He was a relative that I could be proud of. Every experience I've had with Muggles has been terrible. The father that wouldn't stay with me, the boys who wanted to murder a poor five year old...the only Muggle that was good was Kayla...and they killed her.   
The Muggles didn't appreciate life. They killed one of the most beautiful human beings there was...they didn't deserve to live. Slowly, hatred festered in me. Like bloody wounds on my soul.   
"Tom..." I looked up. Rieven Clearwater stood in front of me. My heart quaked.   
"Yes, Rieven?" I tried to keep my voice normal but I don't think it worked.   
"Why do you stay in the library so much? Why aren't you with your Slytherin friends?" She asked, sitting opposite me.   
"I like the library...besides, what Slytherin friends. They hate me." I said. The words rushed out of my mouth. I hadn't talked to anyone in weeks.   
"Why?" She asked. Her face had an expression of loathing and also interest.   
"Don't you know? My name is Tom Marvolo Riddle. My mother was Salaya, the traitor, the Muggle." I said, heavily. The bitterness was evident, I suppose. I hated my mother for putting me through this meaningless life.   
Rieven looked shocked. "But surely...they don't hate you for _that_? It's not something you could control!"   
"They do not seem to care." I said. Rieven was looking at me. She laughed. "What's so funny?"   
"Well...it's just you seem..I don't know...like a Ravenclaw. You're not like other Slytherins." She smiled.   
"The Hat doesn't make mistakes." I said, shortly.   
"Do you hate people with impure blood? Do you hate Muggles?" She asked.   
"I _loathe_, I _detest_ Muggles." I said with venom.   
She looked taken aback at my fierceness. I was momentarily sorry. She was only eleven and a bit years old...I, I felt like I was a hundred at least.   
"Muggles haven't been very good to you, have they?" She asked, softly. There was understanding in her brown eyes. I looked into them and froze for an instant. My breath froze.   
"_Kayla_...Kayla..." I choked. I could feel tears forming in my eyes and I scrambled out of the library.   
I ran and ran and finally stopped behind a huge bar. The tears poured out in torrents and a wall of emotion broke through me. I had never cried for Kayla. I finally did.   
When I finally stopped I felt someone squeezing my shoulder gently. I turned. It was Rieven. My cheeks burned with shame and embarrassment. She had seem me cry like a four year old. It would be all around school tomorrow.  
"It's okay, Tom..." She said, looking at me flush. "I won't tell anyone."  
"What did you call me back there, in the library?" She asked.   
"Kayla. I called you Kayla. Your eyes...were just like hers." I stopped for breath. "She was the only person who ever- cared."   
"Come, Tom, let's be friends." She said, straightening up.   
"A Ravenclaw and a Slytherin?" I asked, a trace of a smile on my lips.   
"A Ravenclaw and a Slytherin." She confirmed.   
******  
"Tom! Tom, the scores are out! I got your scores!" Rieven shouted, waving a package.   
I jumped up and snatched it from her. "Thanks!" I tore the score sheet open. "Top score, Defence against the dark Arts, 125%. Lowest is Divination, a lousy 92%!" I said, laughing.   
"Oh, damn! That's the best scores in the whole second year exam! You really should have been in Ravenclaw!" She squealed. I smiled happily.   
The time had come to tell her. To reveal his emotions, to lay his soul bare.   
"Rieven, come with me. I need to talk to you...in private."   
I ignored her puzzled glance and led her to an old abandoned tower which no-one used. "If Dippet finds us, we're dead!" She said. Armando Dippet was our Headmaster. Dippy Dippet.   
"Rieven...we've been friends for two years...you're my best friend." I stopped, unsure of how to continue. "I...Rieven...I mean to say that, uh, I..."   
"What, Tom?" She asked, gently.   
"Rieven...the thing is...I really like you. Really, really, really." I said. Her face looked surprised.   
"B-but you...never told me!" Her face was white and unhappy looking. I knew something was wrong.   
"What's wrong, Rieven?" I asked, sharply. Perhaps too sharply. She burst into tears.   
"B-but Tom...I...I'm so sorry." She sniffed. "T-Tom, I think I'm in love with Gregory Potter." She sobbed.   
My face contorted. "Gregory Potter?" I hissed. Suddenly I hated him. I hated the Gryffindors. I hated the Ravenclaws. "Isn't he a Muggle-born?"   
"Y-Yes." She said, trembling. That finished it. I hated Muggles. They were the cause of all problems in this world.   
"P-please T-tom, I still want to b-be fr-friends." She said. I looked at her and smiled.   
Except that it didn't look like a smile. It was a curling snarl. My eyes hardened and my face set in stone. It would remain like that forever.   
"Goodbye Rieven." I said. It was like saying goodbye to life. 


	3. Default Chapter Title

This is the second part in Tom Marvolo Riddle's story. Here's where he turns dark. Please reveiw!!   
  
I was sitting in Transfiguration and twirling my wand idly. The class was taught by the head of Gryffindor, Albus Dumbledore. I spelled out 'Kayla' with my wand. Then I spelled 'Rieven'.   
I slashed accross her name so hard that I upset some books on my table. Dumbledore stared at me. I hated those eyes of his. They looked...I don't know..._into_ you.   
But then most people stared at my eyes. They were the palest, lightest green with darker rings around the irises. They even scared me, sometimes. I stared right back at him and mumbled. "Accio!" At my fallen books.   
Albus continued teaching the class. I started spelling out my name. I glared at it...wishing so hard I could change it. The filthy name of my Muggle father. The father who had never cared. A bitter taste came into my mouth. I, who had the blood of Salazar Slytherin himself!   
Some letters started to melt away...finally all that were left were 'l' 'o' 'r' and 'd'. I started. Lord...that could be interesting. I fiddled with my wand again. I am Lord worked out fine...just the rest...didn't fit.   
I swapped the letters around again. Then I stopped. A cruel smile played accross my lips. A person made out of pure hate and darkness. The Lord of Darkness. The greatest Wizard in the world. I laughed softly.  
_"I am Lord Voldemort."_   


* * *

  
I walked into The Great Hall. I looked up. It was a stormy night outside. Just perfect. I walked over to the Slytherin table. Instead of sitting at the edge, as I used to do, I sat near the head. One day, I would sit at the head instead of Marcus Malfoy. One day soon...  
"Why, Tom, hello..." Drusyll smiled. I noticed for the first time the angles on her face and her silky black hair. I smiled back confidently. She looked taken aback by the change in my demeanor.   
"Hello Drusyll." My voice had changed, too. I elongated every sibilant slightly and it came out as a low, menacing hiss. Her eyes flickered and then she smiled.   
"Wow...you've changed." She said, sitting down next to me and pulling her chair closer. Her behaviour had changed too. "I used to think that you were- you know..._queer_." She scrunched up her nose at the last word.   
I was about to reply when Marcus Malfoy and his bunch of goons came in. Gregory Potter got up and talked softly to Malfoy.   
Malfoy's face contorted and he said "I thought you were a Muggle-lover." He sneered. "You're a disgrace to wizards everywhere..." He said, slowly.   
"No, Malfoy, _you're_ the disgrace!" Potter said, through his teeth. A crowd was gathering around them. I lifted to my feet and pushed my way behind Malfoy.   
I moved my body in front of his and flashed a hard smile at Potter. "Now, now, Potter, you should be careful when you talk to a Slytherin..." I said, in my soft hiss.   
Gregory looked taken aback. I had always been rather quiet. I gave him a full blast of my glare.   
"Or you'll do what?" He said, recovering.   
I drew out my wand slowly. "Do you really want to know Potter? We _do_ have to eat after this, you know." I said, running my finger along it. Several Slytherins in Marcus' gang smiled appreciatively.  
Potter looked about to burst. He groped for something to say and then just made a noise in his throat. "Slytherins!" He exclaimed. turning to go back.   
I put my hand on his shoulder and turned him around. He wasn't expecting it and spun around, wobbling. "_What_ did you say about Slytherins...?" I demanded, my eyes narrowing.   
"DIPPET'S COMING!" Andrew Diggory, a Hufflepuff, shouted.   
Suddenly everyone was back at their seats, starting to eat. I glanced up and saw Rieven staring, white-faced, at me. I walked slowly back to the Slytherin table.   
"Hey, Riddle!" Marcus called. "Riddle- Tom, that was pretty good."   
"I know, _Malfoy_." I said, in a commanding voice. He looked angry for a second and then his shoulders slumped slightly.   
"Let's be friends, Riddle." He said, extending his cold, pale hand. I took it in my own and felt him flinch.   
My hand was colder than his.   


* * *

  
"Voldemort."   
"Quietly, you imbecile! Do you want the whole world to know?" I said, fixing Malfoy with my gaze. "Did you get the...article I required?"   
He placed a nondesript black diary onto the Common Room table. I smiled.   
"Now leave me, Malfoy." I said, caressing the pages of the diary.   
"Yes, my Lord." He inclined his head slightly and scuttled away. I could see the fear in his eyes.   
The fear had been there in all my followers eyes ever since I showed them my power. I had performed the Unforgivable curses on a rooster. It was going to die, anyway. Followers need reminders of Power. Everything was ready for the final blow. The roosters were dead and their blood was in jars in my room. Blood would be required for writing on the wall...red paint would do, but people quaked at the sight of blood. The students were scared and nervous, the teachers fatigued and everyone on the brink of giving up. One mighty push and they'd go.  
I had found the Chamber of Secrets weeks ago. My ancestor had created it for the purpose of eradicating this school of Mudbloods and Muggles. Rieven wouldn't die. She was a pure blood. I had something special planned for Rieven.   
I picked up the diary and slipped out of the Common Room and towards my goal. Salazar had hidden The Chamber so well. The entrance was from a tiny girls bathroom. It was difficult to gain access to it.   
To be found there would, of course, be very embarrassing. I looked around. There was nobody in sight. Everyone was inside their Common Rooms, shivering with fright.   
I slipped inside and stared at one of the copper taps. A small snake was carved into it.   
I concentrated on the eyes of the snake and said. _"Open!"_ Instead, a long drawn out hiss escaped my lips.   
The tap glowed glimmering white and began to spin around and around. The sink moved gently out of sight and exposed a large pipe.   
I stepped into it confidently. I had been there many times before. I swooshed down the slimy pipe, which sloped downwards. the pipe levelled out and I pushed my legs forward so I would land properly.   
I looked around and smiled. The dark, slime-ridden walls didn't matter, for in the dim chamber lay the perfect weapon of fear. I walked quickly down the dark tunnel.   
"Lumos." I said, and held out my wand. I didn't really need it. I had every inch of this under-lake tunnel memorised. I turned the final bend and my smile widened.   
I came to a solid, rock wall. Two serpents were entwined in the center. Their wide emerald eyes glittered and reflected a greenish light. I sidled up to them and gently touched the walls.   
_"Hello my little guardians! Open for the Heir of Slytherin!"_ I said. The words came out in Parseltongue without me having to concentrate. Such real snakes...   
"Nox!" The light went out.   
The serpents jerked away from each other and took the walls with them. I entered into a dimply lit chamber. It's height was fathomless and the ceiling blended into dark shadow. Tall, twisted pillars made of a green coloured stone-marble extended grandly to the top. Weird, greenish shadows spiked the floors.   
I went up to the Pillars and looked up. A stone face of Salazar Slytherin was carved high into the rock and darkness.   
_"Speak to me Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts Four!"_ I hissed. The massive face started grinding softly.   
The mouth elongated...wider and wider to make a deep black void. A huge snake slithered out of the mouth.   
It hit the floor of the chamber with a dull thud that shook the walls. The Basilisk lay at my feet. It didn't look at me.  
_"I have stopped you from killing thus far....I give you that rein now. Kill one. Only __one_. A girl." The Basilisk shifted it's tail in what I assumed to be assent. It slithered into the large pipe and in a creak, disappeared.   
I cleaned myself off and sighed. I arranged my face into a vulnerable expression and practiceed my eager look. I took out my silver Prefect's badge and polished it quickly. I had to be word perfect with Old Dippet if my plan was to work...  


* * *

  
"Marvolo Riddle, Tom." Dippet called. I strode up the platform and took my Hogwarts diploma from Armando. The meaningless, worthless piece of paper with that hated name on it.  
Dippy Dippet smiled widely. Head Boy, perfect manners, top scores and I had even caught the person responsible for the Death of the Girl...Myrtle something or other. I had achieved the highest score ever in my N.E.W.T's. There was sparse applause from the Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables but thunder from the Slytherin. I smiled at them all.   
I felt a sense of relief. I could finally come away from Hogwarts and that suspicious old coot Dumbledore. I looked at my scores and laughed at the irony. Best in a school that I knew I would someday destroy.   
I looked away and found Dumbledore staring at me. I looked away. No need to hide anything now. I would soon be gone.   
As the Leaving Feast ended and I walked into the grounds, someone grabbed my arm. A shiver ran up my spine.   
"Tom." She said. "Tom, please...we may never see each other again." I turned slowly, my eyes hard.   
"Tom, I'm so sorry...I wish things could have turned out differently. You're the best friend I ever had." She said, tears forming in her eyes. "Please...let us part as friends. The past is forgotten."   
She held out her hand and smiled. My fingers trembled to clutch it, to say things to her...to explain. I saw Gregory Potter staring at us. My fingers ceased to tremble.   
I looked Rieven in the eyes for a few seconds. I let my glance slip off her face and mist over. I saw Drusyll Verloen.   
"Okay...bye, Rieven." I said, casually, acting as if I didn't care. Her face twisted.   
I walked past her to Drusyll. "Dru..." I said, softly. I bent over her and kissed her passionately. Her eyes widened in surprise but she kissed me back.  
In my arms her face melted into Rieven's, her hair, her cheeks were all Rieven's...she turned into the woman that I loved.   
"We'll never see each other again." Rieven stood behind me and whispered. She trembled slightly and then turned to leave.   
That's where you're wrong, Rieven. We're going to see each other very, _very_ soon. 


	4. Default Chapter Title

The fourth installment of Tom Riddle's story. Please, please, please, please reveiw!!!   
  
  
"No! Please, Tom, please! I beg you! For the sake of our friendship!" Rieven pleaded. The look in her eyes...the haunting, fear-swelled look...  
"Those who betray me meet with the same fate." I said, staring at her face. It was perfect except for a narrow trickle of blood running down one side.   
Yet that was perfection too...the dark red against her glowing skin...I shook myself out of my stupid daydream.   
I drew out a tiny vial and let a few drops of her blood drip into it thickly. "For rememberance..." I said.   
Her eyes were pale, feverish. "Is Gregory- is he- did you k-kill him?" She asked. Rage welled up in me as I heard the note of tenderness in her voice.   
"Don't worry, Rieven, I will." I said. "_Cruicio!_" I needed to see her suffer.   
Suffer as bad as I did...for her, for Kayla, for my parents...for my life. She shattered my one last hope...   
I turned and walked back down the corridor. Rieven's screams followed me down.   
"Kill her, Malfoy." I said to my masked and black robed minion. I hesitated. "Quickly." I said, looking away abruptly.   
Marcus Malfoy's eyebrow twitched up in surprise but he scurried up, eager to comply with the Dark Lord's wishes.   
For a second, Rieven's screams grew louder, then suddenly, they stopped.   
I fell to my knees and cursed.   


* * *

  
I underwent many terrible transformations to achieve my goal of immortality. The Philosopher's Stone and Elixir of life still eluded my best attempts to obtain them.   
That fool Albus Dumbledore knew the inventor, Nicholas Flamel. I would get it someday. I bore the pain of the transformations. It would be worth it. If I became not fully human I would never fully die.   
Through the transformations I wrought a new face for myself. The face that had been inside me all this time...   
I looked in the mirror. My slit-like red eyes glared fiercely back at me. My snake-like appearance would frighten anyone, I knew.   
I no more looked like that Mudblood Potter. I had traced his life through all it's turns yet one facet of it eluded me. I could find nothing on his mother, Selena. Her family was a mystery, it was as if it did not exist. There were partial records, but they were fake. No Muggle could have found out, but I knew.   
It came clear one morning when I re-read a part of my mothers' diary. There were numerous erasures and crossings-out.   
"_Aparecium!_" And then I saw.   
Hysterical laughter filled the room. Such utter, utter irony I had never imagined. My ribs hurt from laughing.  
"My Lord...is everything...alright?" Malfoy asked. I looked at him with a smile on my face.   
"No...actually everything's _not_ alright." I stopped laughing altogether. "Did you know my mother had a squib for a sister? They abandoned her with some Muggle...it wouldn't even be of importance except that-..." I frothed over with laughter again. "That this squib later became Selena Potter."   
Malfoy's face dropped. He was utterly scandalised. Potter, my cousin. Almost a brother. How unfair this was. Potter not only was my blood-cousin, but had family, friends, love...and he had Rieven too...  
How could one person have so much and another so little...How could life and fate be so cruel? I need not ponder these things. The only way to survive Life and survive Fate was to become more cruel than they could possibly be.   
I knew that. That is why...I am Lord Voldemort.   


* * *

  
"My Lord...the Potter is dead."   
"Fool!" I said, and kicked him. "Fool! How can he be dead?" The cowering form yelped.   
"Sir, he died of exhaustion....outside Hogwarts."   
"Hogwarts!" I hissed. "Why Hogwarts?" I pulled the messenger towards me. "WHY HOGWARTS?" I thundered.   
"Your Lordship...sir, please, he had a child- boy...with him. He was taken inside Hogwarts, my Lord. I beg pardon, my Lord." He cowered. I let go of him.   
"Rieven's child..." I whispered. "Rieven's child...never! Rieven is mine...she can't, mustn't have Potter's child. GO, LEAVE ME!" I shouted to the messenger.   
"Please...it can't be true...Rieven, you can't...oh, please, please..." I started to shake and cry.   
I kept mumbling and whispering under my breath. I looked at my reflection in a dirty puddle of water.   
"The great Lord Voldemort." I mocked at myself.   
_No! Not Voldemort...Tom. The real you. Tom. _A voice inside my head intoned. I had been plagued by that voice.   
"Shut up!" I screeched. "Shut up! I am Lord Voldemort!"   
_Lord Voldemort is only a different Tom. You can't lose him forever. Lose him and you lose you..._   
I knew the voice was right. For after all, wasn't Voldemort made out of Tom? I shook my head. Enough fantasy. Work to be done...  
I could not kill the original Potter...but I would definately kill this one. I would have my vengeance against him and against the world.   
"My Lord, we are ready to apparate outside the orphanage." Malfoy slid in and said.   
"Excellent..." I laughed. The orphanage would be the first to feel my wrath. "Let us hasten."   


* * *

  
"Argh!" I twisted awake yet again. I could still see Rieven's eyes. They kept haunting me...torturing me. Her eyes were a cornflower blue. She had liked mine...Tom's, eyes.   
Her eyes were a recurring nightmare. I thanked Magic fervently that Potter didn't have her eyes...I might not be able to kill him then. James Potter.   
"My Lord, are you..-?"   
"I'm fine." Malfoy...not Marcus, he was long dead. Lucius Malfoy. He served me now. He was the closest I had to a friend. "Just a- nothing."   
"The Potters have decided to use the Fidelius Charm, my Lord..." He said, quietly.   
"Damn them! Their Secret-Keeper will be Sirus Black. He will never reveal it to us! He is such a _loyal_ fool." I swore again and paced the room.   
"My Lord...might not we be able to ah, _make_ him tell us?" Lucius asked.   
"I do not think so Lucius...he will not be tempted or cajoled. He would rather die for those two...I forget, now there are three."   
"Yes, my Lord, a boy. Harry." Lucius spat.   
"I must have them, Lucius! I must kill them!" I screamed and grabbed his robes. He shrunk and started to shake slightly. "I will have them!"   
  


* * *

  
"My Lord, I have the Potters." A high, trembling voice said. "They made me their Secret-Keeper."   
I laughed. Finally. "Pettigrew, you have done better than I expected...but, this must be handled with care..."   
I stopped and paced the room...perhaps...  
An idea grew in my mind. "I have just had an idea, Wormtail. After I kill the Potters...you will kill Sirius Black."   
I smiled. Wormtail trembled. I regarded him with distaste. He was a coward.   
"B-but...my-my Lord..I c-can't-..." He stuttered.  
"You idiot, Wormtail! You will make sure the people against us kill him. You will make sure that they think that _he_ was my spy." I smiled again.   
Pettigrew looked mortified. "H-how my lo-lordship?" His face was white.   
"Oh...why that, _that_ is the easiest part Pettigrew." I smiled. He would like this part.   
"By dying, Wormtail. By dying."   
  
  
  
  
  
****Please please please reveiw! I don't get enough reveiws! Thanx to the people who do reveiw! Tell me if anything's wrong or anything! Do read my other stories/poems, also! Thanks!*******


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